The Sorcerer's Apprentice
by Raven of Aserath
Summary: What if David was a girl named Danielle? What if her childhood was a bit worse than one "nervous breakdown" incident? What if she was determined from the start to do whatever it took to make Balthazar happy? FemDave. My first story.  .
1. Danielle

Disclaimer: I do not own The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This story was made strictly for my amusement and I have no rights to the character's or anything.

My name is Danielle Stutler and my life has been pretty much miserable.

My first stroke of misfortune happened just a little before my birth; I lost the man who was supposed to be my father. I wish I could say he died in a heroic effort to rescue a small boy from a burning building, or that he was on the way to work when he was hit dead on by a drunk driver. I wish I could say he'd been severely ill, and despite his most earnest wishes, he couldn't hold on long enough to meet me. I wish I could say that.

But I'm a bad liar.

My "father" bailed on my mother days before I was ready to enter the world. He didn't even have the decency to tell her goodbye. She came home to their run-down one-room apartment to discover his stuff gone and a note saying "I don't want this."

_This_ being me, of course.

So I was pretty much doomed from the start.

Mother was devastated by the loss, we had very little income, and since the bastard just about dropped off the map; we couldn't even charge up dear old dad for child support.

Needless to say we lived in a crappy apartment in a crappy part of town for years.

For four years actually, then we didn't really live anywhere at all. We free-loaded off her friends and her folks mostly, and some nights in between "sleepovers" we would stay at one of the cities shelters. I hated it.

Mom met this guy when I was five, and he was pretty well-off. She spent about a year wrapping him around her little finger until he finally gave her a ring and the promise of a better life.

Turns out that "better life" didn't include me.

Mother and _Steve_ got hitched and, because the jerk's job "requested" he relocate, they moved off to some place on the other side of the country. His company thought tagging a kid along would make things "complicated."

I wish I could say I didn't care.

But, again, I'm bad at lying.

At least mom getting married allowed me a little financial security. I got put in one of Manhattan's less known boarding schools, Umbrage Academy for Girls. Fun Fact for ya, did you know Umbrage means resentment? Fantastic name, don't ya think?

So life continued to suck for the next four years. People at school didn't really talk to me; I was that "loser girl" whose parent's didn't want her. It kinda blew. Hard.

I think the only thing I liked about that place was that it was right next door to the local library and the schools own library was nothing to scoff at. It had the advance subject material I wasn't supposed to be able to tackle until _much_ later in life; like algebra and classic literature and physics. But I liked it, and I _understood_ it.

Even better than the challenging courses I pursued outside of my actual curriculum; was the books I would find at the public library on the weekend trips next door. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Romance. The school had some fantasy and romance and such, but it was catered to chitty school girls; most of the books were cheesy and shallow and I just didn't like them. The books at the public library were different. I read about young women in unfortunate situations, who would rise up and show the world they weren't powerless. I read about bitter rivals overcoming outstanding obstacles together, learning from each other, growing to be friends, and eventually falling in love.

Most of all, I read about magic.

I snatched it up and pulled each word from each story deep into my heart. As if doing so would give me the ability to spell away my trouble's and conjure up a happier life.

Come to think of it, being a bookworm probably didn't help my social status.

Authors note: Did you like my first chapter? I welcome reviews of all kind. This is the first story I have ever posted online so any feed-back is great. Anyone know where I can find a beta?


	2. The Field Trip

Disclaimer: I do not own The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This story was made strictly for my amusement and I have no rights to the character's or anything.

That was my life from ages 6-10. Until a field trip to the Manhattan Art Center changed my life forever.

The field trip was actually pretty much over by the time this life changing event rolled around. We had gone to the local park for our 30 minute Lunch, parents would pick up their children for the weekend break, and those whose parents wouldn't be picking them up would get back on the bus to the school. Down the road there was this fountain and sitting on its ledge was this _beautiful_ girl. She had loose wavy red hair, pale skin, a pointy nose, long feathery eyelashes, and had a shiny silver flute nestled in nimble fingers. I couldn't help it; I looked at her and saw one of the fairies from my books. I pulled out my notebook and colored pencils from my bag and started to draw her. I sketched the fountain so it looked old and over run with nature. I made the water a purplish-pink and the stone a washed out blue. I sketched her naked first and then covered her most private parts with leafy vines; just like I had seen at the Art Exhibit. I left her feet completely bare. I gave her mossy green butterfly wings and entwined twigs and flowers into her hair. The only thing I didn't change was that beautiful silver flute; I even managed to make it look like the sun was glinting off the edge. I had spent almost all my lunch period on that picture; I was so proud of it. I had just signed my name in the corner with my best handwriting; like a good artist was supposed to do,

Then someone snatched my book out of my hands.

"Eeeewwwwwww! Danielle is drawing NAKED WOMEN!"

Needless to say, that got half the damn classes attention. Luckily the teacher was on the other side of the noisy students and hadn't noticed what was going on over in my area.

I tried to grab for my book but the little bitch, Cassidy I think her name was, kept it well out of my reach.

"Give it back! That's MY art! You've got no right stealing it!" I said.

I remember Cassidy had this ugly sneer on her face "Art?" she said, "You call this art? I'd call it PORN! I'm giving it to the teacher!" Then she carelessly tore the page out, threw my notebook on the ground, and proceeded to run back to the teacher.

I tackled the chit before she got three steps away.

I was trying to hold her down and grab my paper; and she was fighting me every step of the way, screaming bloody murder all the while. By then the teacher had realized the commotion and was hurrying toward Cassidy and I; gently trying to push students aside as they formed a wall around us screaming "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

As if it couldn't get any worse, just as I finally got Cassidy to open her hand a huge gust of wind comes along and carries my paper away with it. I quickly got up and barreled through the few students blocking my way, they were all pretty eager to move away from the "freak" that had just "attacked" Cassidy. I chased my paper across the street, around the corner, up the road, through an ally, and god knows where else. I didn't notice at the time how completely and totally lost I had gotten; all I cared about was getting my picture back. After what seemed like a marathon of running the wind blew the paper into a door. Smiling and triumphant, and more than a little out of breath, I walked up the stairs to grab it. My fingers weren't even 5 inches away when it seemed to get sucked through the mail slot.

Not believing my rotten luck, but unwilling to give up after all that trouble, I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Authors Note: Reviews make me smile


	3. Arcana Cabana

Disclaimer: I do not own The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This story was made strictly for my amusement and I have no rights to the character's or anything.

What I saw when I entered was incredible.

A large room full of dusty antiques. My mind had raced back to stories about treasure hunters and magical artifacts. I had looked around, so excited to explore, I momentarily forgot about my picture. Nestled between an odd candle-stick holder and what looked like an old-fashioned bellow was a rusty lamp. I am not ashamed to admit that I thought a genie might come out and I would get 3 wishes. So I eagerly picked it up to rub it, and in doing so I knocked over the bellow which tipped over this gold bowl and this bronze ball _flew_ out of it, which would have hit me in the face if I hadn't stepped back, and instead went flying off into a bookshelf. I hate chain reactions.

It would have been all fine and good if it hadn't made a lot of noise and I hadn't stepped right back into a large, and very fragile looking vase thing. I turned to watch in horror as this, probably outrageously priced, artifact smashed to a bazillion pieces.

But a pair of strong, masculine hands caught it. Of course, I wasn't thinking about strong masculine hands when I was ten and this was happening.

In fact, I'm pretty sure my thoughts were something along the lines of "O crap. I am in so much trouble."

A handsome, if not incredibly irritated looking, man was looking at ten year old me with this kind of bored-but-still-peeved expression and started to explain how some really pissy emperor guy locked his least favorite wife in that "Urn" for 10 years, and how it was said that if you open it, the very same thing will happen to you.

So, yeah, I was a little scared at this point.

"S-sorry" I said, stuttering with nerves "I-I was looking for this paper, I sketched a picture on it, it blew into your store it was just a..a…"

"Just a coincidence" he said. I couldn't make out the expression on his face, it was distant, and yet intense, like he'd been working out a tricky puzzle and had possibly found a missing piece.

"Yeah, just a coincidence." I hadn't wanted to leave without my picture, but I had been starting to feel really uneasy. Especially as he turned in my direction and walked past me with that same distant, yet focused expression, and said "There's something I want to show you Danielle."

My first reaction was fear "How do you know my name?"

"Because I can read minds!" he declared in, what today I can say was, a completely over dramatic fashion; sharp heel pivot and all. At the time though it had just seemed terrifyingly cool.

He took in my awed and shocked expression before smirking at me, "It's on your name tag."

Man did I feel like an idiot, I had completely forgotten about the name tags we had to wear on field trips; and even worse, I had let this stranger fool me into thinking he was a mind-reader.

So, blushing like the idiot I was and more embarrassed than when Cassidy yelled I was drawing naked women at lunch, I stepped up to the counter as the man pulled out something from the shelving.

"This" he said, holding up a small silver dragon in the palm of his hand "is very special to me; but if he likes you, you can keep him."

I had wanted to reach out for the tiny figurine ever since it entered my line of sight, but then I remembered the situation. I had run away from my school group, I still didn't have my picture, I was alone in a weird (albeit cool) store with a complete stranger, and he was offering me a dragon. I know it's not candy but I think the general rule is you don't accept gifts from strangers.

"You know I really should go, I just wanted my picture, and my teacher knows I'm here, she'll be coming to get me any second if I don't get going." I started to take my first step to the door, and it closed shut. "Oh, boy" I thought.

He called me out on my bluff with humor evident in his voice "You're a bad liar Danielle. That's good."

I didn't see how it was good in the current situation, but I decided that things weren't going to get worse just because I held a little statue.

Man I hate being wrong.

I took the dragon from his hand and let it stand straight on my palm, like I had seen the man do; then all of the sudden it came to life. Oddly enough I didn't panic when it shook itself out and proceeded to wrap around my finger before settling into a seemingly harmless but ridiculously big (on my little girl hand) ring.

When I looked up at the man he had his eyes closed with this…relieved expression on his face. He looked as if some long since asked for prayer had just been answered; the stress seemed to flow off his body.

Then he looked at me and I swear I stopped breathing.

He looked at me like I was the only person in the universe, like I was the most precious thing in the world. He had this…affectionate gaze I didn't understand.

No one had ever looked at me like that before.

He slowly came around the counter, his eyes never leaving my face, like he was afraid I would run away; I couldn't have moved if I tried.

"I have been searching a long time for you, Danielle." He had knelt down in front of me, and grasped my shoulders very lightly in his firm hands "Now that ring," he glanced quickly to it before his eyes pinned mine again "means something. It means that you're going to be a very important sorceress one day."

With those words my heart had flown up to my throat "Sorceress" I had thought "I can be a _Sorceress_." "Even better," some deeper part of me whispered "you get to be _important_."

I had never been important to anyone before, and just by saying I could be, this man whose name I didn't even know became my favorite person in the world.

"What do I need to do?" I had been so eager to please this man, to keep him looking at me like that, to become important. He had smiled at my enthusiasm and I had felt this insane rush of satisfaction. "Train. Starting with you very own Incantus."

I hadn't even known what that was and still I was buzzing in anticipation. He started down the staircase, throwing over his shoulder "Stay here, and don't touch anything"

Authors Note: OK so I have a few idea's as to how I want to advance this story. I could find a way to do anyone of them, but I'm undecided. If anyone wants to hear my idea's, or wants to tell me some of their own, I would love to chat with you. Review and I'll bake you a virtual cookie. ^-^


	4. Cockroach man

First of all, I would just like to say that all of you guys have made my summer. Now my summer has been pretty awesome so that's saying something. I don't think anything has made my smile wider than the reviews I've gotten so far. A lot of you had excellent ideas but unfortunately I can only do one plot line (unless there is a plot line you are dying to see, I promise that if I think I can do it justice I will do it; after this story is done of course.) Thanks for being awesome and giving my confidence a serious boost, I really hope I don't suck it up for you guys.

Special thanks to Marie Ravenclaw for her awesome feedback and idea's.

P.S. sorry it took so long to update. I'm getting an exchange student in a few days so most of my time has been dedicated to cleaning the house.

P.S.S I make good on my promises *hands fresh-baked virtual cookie to all reviewers*

Disclaimer: I do not own The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This story was made strictly for my amusement and I have no rights to the character's or anything.

In my younger self's defense, I didn't touch anything.

A few seconds after the man disappeared down the stairs I was finally capable of coherent thought. By coherent thought I mean that I was finally aware of that stray hair tickling my nose. It totally wasn't my fault that when I moved my hand, the one with the ring, to push it back behind my ear there was a _thump_ and some boxes shook.

And you can't blame a ten year old for curiosity.

I moved my hand out again and got the same result; I moved it farther out and got a slightly louder _thump_ and the boxes almost tilted off the shelving.

I know now that I really should have stopped at that, or at least waited until the man came back upstairs.

But I wasn't moving, and I wasn't touching anything.

I threw my hand back as far and as fast as I could.

_*CRASH*_

Boxes toppled and this weird nesting doll _zoomed_ into my hands. My ring started glowing, the doll started to heat up, and this line of steam split down the middle of the doll. Finally it got to hot and I dropped it.

I can honestly say that, outside of a frat boy house bathroom, I have never, to this day, seen anything as gross as what I saw then. Cockroaches, big freaking cockroaches, _a lot_ of big freaking cockroaches; pouring out of the nesting doll like water, stacking up on each other like linkin logs, until there was a huge pillar of cockroaches towering over me.

I would have screamed if I could have found my voice.

Then the cockroaches started to take the shape of a man. They melted into each other, forming shoes, fabric, fur, _skin_. The last solid cockroach retreated into the mouth of the man; I hadn't really paid much attention to him until that point, I was more focused on the creepy crawlies that he was apparently _made_ of.

You can call me discriminatory, but even at ten I knew not to trust someone made of _cockroaches_.

"When am I?" the cockroach man said to me in that Holier-than-Thou voice every child is programmed to hate. This voice made me instinctually want to be smart-alecky or defiant or bratty.

But it's very hard to do any of these things when your brain is still chanting "OMG he's made of cockroaches."

With all this going on in my head I'd say it's a pretty big accomplishment I managed to answer.

"Ne-New York City."

You think the guy would have been pleased I answered him at all, you know, instead of doing what any smart kid would have done; which is run away screaming.

No. Instead his beetle eyes scrunch up and his mouth formed this snarl that looked like it belonged on a demon.

"I said WHEN! The YEAR!"

I remember being scared at his expression and shouting, I remember being confused by what he said, I remember that my throat froze; I remember stepping back as he raised a glowing cane at me with anger in his eyes. I remember him yelling again,

"YOU ARE WASTING MY TIME!"

Then I remember him being thrown up against the glass ceiling by some invisible force.

"What happened to 'don't touch anything'?"

I was so relived the man was back, so happy he was there to save me.

Then I turned around and my happiness fled.

He was angry. He held a _huge_ book in one hand, and had the other trained on the cockroach man, but his eyes were on me. He looked disappointed and tense again and I hated myself so much in that moment for putting that crease between his eyebrows.

Then he seemed to notice; I'm not sure exactly what he noticed, but something of my thoughts must have shown on my face because his eyes softened and even though the eyebrow crease and stiff shoulders didn't go away, I was happy because he wasn't mad at me.

"Not very sporting Balthazar," the cockroach man complained, effectively breaking the connection between the man, Balthazar, and myself "I hardly got a chance to stretch my legs."

"Be quiet!" Balthazar snapped at the man; then he looked toward me and said in a comforting way "It's not you. He's been this way for 1,000 years." His eyes turned from indulgent to stern and his voice hardened "Where's the doll?"

I had honestly completely forgotten about it but I had whipped my head about for a second and saw it on the ground next to the register, not even 8 feet away from me.

"There it is!"

Balthazar had already set the book down and was just turning to reach for the doll when the other man _summoned_ his cane to his hand and sent a pulse of energy toward Balthazar. Out of all the things that had happened that day that I should have screamed over, _that _was what finally let a shout leave my lips. Balthazar was slammed into the wall and buried by boxes and shelves.

The cockroach man turned and summoned the doll to him but then Balthazar burst out of his box prison and an, there is no other word for what happened next, EPIC battle commenced.

The specifics are a little blurry but I remember the basics. Cockroach man practically force pushed this big wooden dresser at Balthazar. Then Balthazar blasted it to dust before tackling cockroach man to the ground. I finally got the good sense to make myself less vulnerable and ducked down by the register counter. They scuffled for a bit and their feet knocked the doll toward me, so I grabbed it. I remember glass breaking and covering my face. I remember cockroach man catching one of the rafters on fire. I remember a glowing cane and a glowing hand sending each others competitor across the store. I remember cockroach man possessing a sword and attacking Balthazar with it. I remember being so scared I thought I would faint. Then Balthazar stopped cockroach man's blade with a mask and hurled it at him. Cockroach man fell back and knocked over the scary urn of the pissy emperor, and the vibrations caused this jar of water to break all over my uniform skort. Then things got terrifyingly awesome. Plasma bolts and fire balls were being thrown back and forth, the store was blazing and hot; I tried to army crawl out of there but cockroach man separated us from Balthazar with a wall of flames. He raised a flaming finger at me and said in a murderous whisper "I want that doll."

Before I had time to see past the terror that was blinding my senses, Balthazar leapt out of the flames like some sort of avenging angel and pushed the cockroach man to the ground. But cockroach man wasn't about to give up; he had grabbed my ankle like a steel trap, pulling me back toward him as my free arm flailed out for something, anything, to keep me from him. Ironically, as my eyes searched for a hold I saw my picture zoom past me. I looked back only to see it be sucked in by that creepy urn, I was panicking, I remember panicking. But clear as day I remember that split second I locked eyes with Balthazar. He was giving me the look of a resigned man, but one who was confident and calm and determined about the action one was about to take. I drew strength from that look, and with matching determination I kicked the cockroach mans hand off me.

"**Leave now!**" Balthazar yelled, clear and commanding over the roaring of the fire and the cockroach man's struggling. Then he shoved both their hands into the urn and I watched for a moment as they turned to ash and were sucked in; just like my picture.

My brain didn't send the signal for my feet to move, but move they did. It was like my body could respond to Balthazar's order even when my mind was in turbulence.

I ran out of the shop, clutching the nesting doll to my chest, and turned for one last look at the place where my whole life was turned upside down. The place where I had met a man who looked at me like I was his whole world. The place where had I seen that man disappear into an urn.

I remember panicking again. The store was on fire! Balthazar was trapped in an urn! What if the urn caught fire! I bolted back into the store,

And found everything was exactly as it had been. No fire. No broken furniture. Nothing.

Like it had never even happened.

For a moment I remember doubting it did, it had felt like a dream.

But then I felt the weight of the doll in my arms, and the weight of the ring on my finger.

Balthazar's voice seemed to float in my mind "Ten years Danielle."

Ten years.

_AN: I debated leaving it there, I really did_

With a secret smile and sparkling eyes I found my way back to the park. Granted, I wouldn't have had a prayer of finding my way if a very nice Chinese lady hadn't have walked me back. I saw my backpack, abandoned, on the ground next to my notebook and quickly put both my notebook and the nesting doll into it. I almost put the ring in as well, but I couldn't bring myself to take it off. I remember thinking "Sure Mrs. Barnes will ask questions, but I can always just say…"

That's when I realized Balthazar was right, I really am a bad liar.

So when Mrs. Barnes found me there, exactly where my backpack was left, I had no answers for her. She asked where I had gone, why I had gotten into a fight with Cassidy, where I got "that ring"; I had no answers, so I kept my mouth shut.

Well, except the Cassidy thing, I totally told Mrs. Barnes that she had stolen my picture.

It was on this day Mrs. Barnes became my favorite teacher at Umbrage Academy (even though I didn't even take her class) because she noticed and solved a problem that would have caused me a lot of grief.

"Danielle….sweetie…..did you have an, ah, _accident_?"

That's when I remembered the broken jar of water and realized with mortification that I looked like I had peed myself.

I was the perfect picture of a flustered child.

"No! I swear! It's just water! This jar broke! I didn't….it's just water!"

She had spoken calmly and kindly "It's alright, I believe you. Let's get you another skort before we get back on the bus, ok?"

So that crisis was averted, the doll remained undiscovered, Mrs. Barnes forgot about my new accessory, and I was still given the title of social pariah a.k.a. rabies girl. Which to this day I think is stupid because I didn't even bite her.

But that didn't matter, because when ever Cassidy or one of the other girls got to far under my skin I would just think to myself "ten years" and smile my secret smile.

So did I live up to expectations? As always, love reviews, love feedback, don't love flames but if I really screwed up on something then go ahead. Spare my feelings no expense if I did poorly, but if I did well then please let me know ^-^


	5. Becky

O.K. so I know you all have a right to be mad for the ridiculously long wait. I know I'm pissed I didn't get this out there A LOT sooner (it's actually been collecting dust in my word documents for awhile.) It's been totally hectic in my world for quite some time now. I found out my Grandma had Stage 4 cancer, I've been trying to get all my collage stuff in order, and I've been showing a foreigner around the beautiful U.S. of A. so I haven't had as much time to work on this as I would like, but with some speedy input I think I can churn out another chapter by this time next week.

Sorry again for the delay and hope you enjoy chapter 5.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the dress I wore to homecoming.

/

Ten years is a long time to wait.

But it actually wasn't that bad.

Before the Unforgettable Field trip I had never actually paid any attention to the new music teacher. She taught the older kids and I didn't take her class; but I'm really glad we met that day, and not just because she saved me from total humiliation.

Mrs. Barnes turned out to be one of the nicest adults on the planet, and she was the first teacher at Umbrage Academy to really spend time getting to know me. She was a regular fieldtrip chaperone so we would talk during the weekend library visits; it was like having my own personal guidance counselor. It was the first time I could rant to anyone about my fantasy books, or my personal studies and know they would really listen.

It helped me from getting too depressed that I had almost had another adult who would listen.

Mrs. Barnes tried to get me into music; I almost joined orchestra just to spend more time with her. Two weeks was long enough to realize that I had no talent for it.

But Mrs. Barnes insisted that "every young woman needs a creative outlet." So I finally told her that I liked to draw.

I don't know why she was so surprised when she saw my notebook filled with sketches; I told her I got in that fight with Cassidy because she took one of my drawings.

"Well, yeah," Mrs. Barnes said when I reminded her about the fight, "But I didn't know you could draw like _this_. Danielle, these are incredible."

I blushed so hard; I swear my ears turned red.

Despite all my protests to the contrary, Mrs. Barnes declared me a fantastic artist and constantly tried to get me to enter my pictures in art contests and the like.

It was a bit of an ego booster to be perfectly honest. It also almost successfully distracted me from the fact that my only friend was a teacher. How lame is that.

But I started to get sad, just like any kid without friends is bound to do, and ten years was seeming like an eternity away.

Then Mrs. Barnes had her daughter transferred to Umbrage Academy for 5th grade.

Becky was who really kept me going all those years, I'm a little scared that if she hadn't have been around, I probably would have completely isolated myself from my age group.

We weren't BFF's right away. That was no surprise. Becky had that go-lucky attitude people loved, and she was "cool Mrs. Barnes" daughter, AND she was probably one of the prettiest girls in the school. So Becky was popular.

And me, well, I was "rabies girl"

Honestly we probably wouldn't have even been friends if Mrs. Barnes didn't try so hard at it.

She would invite me to sit with them at lunch, or she would "convince" Becky to buddy with me during school activities. I kinda felt like a burden really. It was like that for a year.

Then we were in 6th grade, and I actually understood the course material.

Mrs. Barnes asked me to tutor Becky, because she wasn't too great with math and science. Since it was Mrs. Barnes asking, I couldn't say no.

For about half the year the routine was simple; Becky would show up in my room with problems, I'd help her work them out, we would make awkward small talk, and then Becky would run off to hang with her cool friends.

Then Becky got her first "boyfriend" and stopped coming to tutoring all together.

His name was Chad Something-or-other and he went to the neighboring Fudge Academy for Boys. Now I know that sounds like some sort of chocolate factory, but it isn't. Fudge was the guy who founded the school decades ago.

Fun fact for ya, Fudge is a synonym for lie, cheat, and fabricate. It's incredibly fitting.

Chad was an 8th grader and all of Becky's friends thought it was "sssoooo cool" that she was "dating" an "older guy."

She would go on and on about him at lunch, oddly enough they "dated" for 4 weeks before Becky exclaimed that "he's the one" and that she was "so in love."

Of course I didn't hear any of this first hand, I wouldn't have heard it at all if her voice didn't carry so easily in the cafeteria.

It took another 2 weeks before he dumped her, after she had caught him kissing another girl, of course.

I'll never understand how so much drama can happen between middle school students in separate boarding schools.

I didn't get the courage for months to ask her why she came to me that night; tears strolling down her face, and sobs escaping her lips.

"You're my truest friend" she had said. She became my best friend that night, but the spot for my favorite person was already filled.

After the "Heart Break of 6th grade" Incident (as we later dubbed it) Becky and I didn't just hang out during tutoring and with her mom. We actually did stuff, just us, no school work attached. She gave me my first Pedi, I had my first "sleep over", she got me to watch those cheesy chick flicks, and I made her watch Star Wars. It was great.

I even told her about Balthazar. I wasn't going to, I really wasn't. But she was rifling through my notebook without my permission or supervision and came across his face.

O.K., so she came across multiple sketches of his face, and body, and store, and even a fully colored close up of his eyes.

"Who is this?"

"Who is wh-" My words stopped and my eyes went wide.

"This guy." Becky looked away from my notebook and toward my shocked expression; she flipped through the pages a few more times before a sly smile spread across her face.

"Danni, sweetie, does someone have a crush?"

I lit up like a Christmas tree and grabbed for my book, but Becky moved quickly out of my reach and flipped through more pages (I dedicated quite a few to that day in Arcana Cabana, specifically to Balthazar) adding commentary all the while.

"You know I always wondered why you never liked any of the local cuties, should have figured you go for older men. But what's with the duster cloak? And what kind of man where's that many rings? The long hair is kind of hot, I guess."

"Becky," I had begged "please give that back." I couldn't let her see the pictures with the plasma bolts, or of the Cockroach man, or of the nesting doll.

"Tell me his name, how you met him, and how much you like him. Then I promise I'll give it back."

Figures an 8th grade girl would ask those questions. But I gave in, I couldn't let her see anymore or I would have had to answer a lot of much harder questions.

"His name is Balthazar, we met when I got lost on a field trip when I was 10….he gave me my dragon ring." Becky's eyes went wide.

"Seriously? And you're just telling me about him Now? I've been asking for the story behind that ring since we met!"

She had, but I instantly regretted adding that bit of information. The goal had been to make her forget about the whole "how much do you like him" thing but I could see the questions bubbling up her throat. Becky never was good at containing her curiosity.

"So, what, you meet this guy and he's all like 'Hi, I'm Baltar, here's a ring'?"

"First off it's not "Baltar" his name is Balthazar. Second off…..actually that's pretty much how it went." So not exactly, but close enough to the truth. I was not about to tell Becky details and specifics; I enjoy having a friend my age who doesn't think I'm crazy, thanks very much.

"That is so weird."

"I completely agree."

"But you still didn't tell me how much you like him." Damn.

"I….H-he's…..God Becky I don't know. I haven't seen him in four years and I only knew him for less than half an hour." So there's no way she would understand if I was honest and told her that he was the most important person in my life.

"Would you date him?"

"Yes." It was automatic, no thinking necessary.

"Then you like him a lot."

"Yeah. I do."

When we got to high school nothing really changed between us. I was in all advance classes and she took as many music electives as possible. Even with being a "band geek" Becky was considered part of the "in crowd" but she never once ditched me. In fact, she spent more time with me than ever. Becky was always dragging me to parties I wasn't invited to and trying to get me to join clubs and go out with boys.

I didn't date. I usually left the parties early. I did join some clubs though. I was in National Honor Society, Latin Honorary Society, Beta Club, and (through Becky's insistence) Art club. Despite that, and despite Becky's efforts, my social life was rather lacking in high school.

Not that my social life got much better during collage.

Mostly I just focus on my school work and my Tesla Coil project. Sure I talk to my professors, and I have some friends inside my classes; but Becky's still the only person I actually hang out with. My mom and _Steve_ moved back to NY a little after my freshman year began; I'd say we made an attempt to be a happy family, but that would be a lie and I'm still a bad liar. Years after the initial hostilities _Steve _and I still don't hit it off, but at least having my mom in the same state gave me a free place to store the stuff I didn't want to get jacked by a dorm mate. I don't stay with them during the holidays and I don't drive over for brunch; they've never even asked that I would. So despite having parental units nearby, I had no family life outside the Sister of my Soul, Becky. Which works for me; some people need a sister, a best friend, a roommate, and a party buddy but I just need Becky, my all of the above.

So, yeah, compared to my tenth birthday my life has been pretty mundane; but I can't ignore the nagging in my brain, that insistent voice telling me that it will all change tomorrow. It's been ten years, to the day.

/

So, yeah, that was Chapter 5. A few questions for all you guys who are still with me

1) What should Horvath say about Danielle's drawing? I'm no artist so I don't know what a sufficient "burn" would be.

2) This is incase the spacing didn't happen the way I wanted it to, how in blue blazes do you put chapters onto ff without ruining the way you spaced your story? It's driving me bonkers!

3) Any criticism is appreciated, did I do alright?

Give me your feedback and I promise to do all I can to have another chapter by next week! Thanks for keeping with me!

P.S. I solemnly swear I will not abandon this story for any reason except death, and even then I'll just possess someone with a computer to finish it. I'll try not to ever make you guys wait that long again!


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